HISTORY

IRISH HISTORY

Ballynatray Chronicles

The following comes from a history of Ballynatray House outside Youghal
in Co. Waterford, Ireland. I place the story on view to the world as the
world so often responds with unimagined new pieces for jigsaws like these.
In time, I will amend, update and illustrate.

Munster in the 16th Century

Between the 12th and 16th centuries, the kingdom of Munster was
dominated by two rival dynasties - the FitzGeralds, also known as the Geraldines,
headed by the Earl of Desmond, and the Butlers, headed by the Earl
of Ormond. By 1540, the monasteries of Ireland had been closed down
and the church lands re-granted to a new elite considered worthy of royal
patronage by the English Protestant administration in Dublin Castle. The
power of both Butler and FitzGerald was thus significantly reduced. However,
in 1546, the Earldom of Ormonde passed to 15-year-old 'Black Tom' Butler,
a close relation of Queen Elizabeth through the Boleyn family. (1)
In 1558, the Desmond estates were inherited by Gerald, 15th Earl of Desmond,
a defiant Catholic with strong links to England's enemies in Rome and Madrid.
Desmond nurtured the ancient enmity between the FitzGeralds and Butlers
and the two clans fought a bloody battle at Affane on the Blackwater. The
Lord Deputy, Sir
Henry Sidney, subsequently imprisoned Desmond and leadership of
the family temporarily passed to his ultra-Catholic cousin, James FitzMaurice.
FitzMaurice went into open rebellion against the English, sparking off a
four year long guerrilla war. By 1573, Desmond was back at large in Munster.
Anglo-Spanish relations, already strained, were plummeting fast. Philip
II threatened to send military assistance to Ireland. A number of English
settlers in Munster were murdered. The situation continued to worsen as
the 1570s wore on. Frustrated and fierce, the Elizabethan army began to
respond with mounting aggression, laying waste to farmstead after farmstead
and provoking widespread famine.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Into this unhappy foray there now stepped one of the stalwarts of Elizabethan
England. Mary Turton, who spent much of her childhood at Ballynatray
in the 1920s and 1930s, recalled a portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh by Segar
in the dining room that 'hung behind the sideboard and was always being
splashed by gravy and food'. After the death of Rowley Holroyd-Smyth,
the Raleigh portrait was sold to the Irish National Gallery 'for a very
large amount, despite its condition'. (2) Ballynatray's proximity to Youghal
is such that Raleigh in inextricably linked with the estate. He became owner
of both Ballynatray and Molana Abbey in 1587. The abbey was given
to his friend, the brilliant mathematician Thomas Hariot while it
was Robert Maule, one of Raleigh's two estate managers in Ireland, who most
likely lived at Ballynatray in the late 16th century. When Raleigh's star
waned and disgrace loomed, he sold his vast Irish estates directly to Richard
Boyle, subsequently the Earl of Cork, for a token £1500. No history
of Ballynatray could be complete without an examination of Sir Walter Raleigh,
one of the most enigmatic adventurers, soldiers, scholars and courtiers
to emerge of the Tudor Age. Much of the following was gleaned from an excellent
biography, Sir
Walter Raleigh (Allen Lane, 2002), written by his distant descendent,
Raleigh Trevelyan.

Piratical Blood

Walter Raleigh was born in about 1554 in the small hamlet of East Budleigh
not far from the red cliffs of Devon. (3) His family background was very
much in the maritime tradition of prosperous Tudor merchants and shipbuilding
families. He was a cousin of the Grenviles, Carews, Gorges, Drakes and Champernownes
- and a half-brother of the sea-faring Gilbert brothers by his father's
first marriage. His grandfather was stripped of all lands for participating
in the Cornish Rising of 1497 but Raleigh's father, a Protestant
zealot, recouped the fortunes during the Reformation era. In 1546, Raleigh's
father was accused of personally swiping a cross of gold and silver from
the dissolved church of St. Mary's in East Budleigh. Such dastardly habits
clearly ran in the blood although the older Raleigh narrowly avoided a sticky
end during the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 when the troops of Lord
Grey de Wilton chanced upon his would-be assassins in the nick of time.

The Early Years

Young Walter grew up listening to the tales of the Cabots and the Hawkins
families, courageous souls from his community who had voyaged unknown seas
and brought home slaves and ivory, nutmeg and gold. His cousins, the Gilberts
and Grenvilles, likewise returned from afar thick with tales from the wars
against the French and the Ottoman Turks. By 1569, 16-year-old Walter was
putting his crusading abilities to use, fighting alongside the Huguenots
during the third of the devastating French Wars of Religion. He was
present at the battle of Jarnac when the Huguenots forces were annihilated
and the heroic Louis de Borbonne, Prince of Code, was slain. With his sad
brown eyes, he watched entire towns put to the swords, women and children
included. (4)

The Psychotic Sir Humphrey Gilbert

Even in 1569, the world was a rapidly changing place. Queen Elizabeth was
about to be excommunicated. Mary, Queen of Scots was plotting another
revolution. The Dutch Protestants were up in arms after the mass execution
of thousands by the Duke of Alba. England was alive with anti-Catholic,
anti-Spanish rhetoric. In Ireland, FitzMaurice's rebellion had left the
east coast in tatters. The rebels were duly crushed with unprecedented brutality
by an English army led by Raleigh's half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
This violent man, educated at Eton and Oxford, was probably the man who
first introduced Raleigh to Elizabeth. Gilbert's military policy held that
'no conquering nation will ever yield willingly their obedience for love
but rather for fear'. Like most of his English contemporaries, he regarded
the Celtic Irish as primitive barbarians, comparable to nettles, which sting
even when handled gently. The only solution was to scythe them all down
and on that score, Gilbert had no qualms. As Military Governor of Munster,
he captured twenty-three castles and massacred all who resisted him, women
and children included. Showing seriously Colonel Kurtz tendencies, the avenue
leading to Gilbert's military tent was lined with an avenue of severed heads
down which their subdued relatives had to walk and kneel before him. Gilbert's
rule of terror had the desired effect of subduing protest within two months
of his arrival. In his latter days, Raleigh would condemn such tactics but,
as a young man, he was only too willing to play along with his half-brother's
plans.

Smerwick Harbour

By 1573, FitzMaurice had surrendered to the Queen and an uneasy peace settled
on Ireland for the next five years. In the spring of 1579 the Queen received
word from her principal spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham that mischief
was afoot. FitzMaurice was in Rome. The Pope, who had recently excommunicated
Elizabeth, was preparing to proclaim Philip II of Spain the rightful heir
to Ireland. A Spanish invasion force was in training. By the summer,
FitzMaurice had landed with a fleet of three ships and one hundred men -
Spanish, Italian and ex-patriate Irish -in the bleak, windswept bay of Smerwick
Harbour on the Dingle peninsula. They built a simple earthwork fortress
and settled in. They were not long there when pirates rounded the peninsula
and made off with their ships. FitzMaurice made his way north in pursuit
of support but ran into trouble and was shot and killed. The Italians and
Spanish, isolated at Smerwick, decided to abandon their fort before the
cold winter kicked in and were swiftly rounded up and executed by English
soldiers. The Earl of Desmond, whose brothers were making regular raids
on English settlements, was declared a traitor. Desmond was now in open
rebellion against the Crown.

The Sack of Youghal

It is at this point in the turbulent history of Elizabethan Ireland that
Youghal becomes relevant. In what Richard Berleth ('The Twilight
Lords') calls a coincidence 'at once embarrassingly flamboyant and
indisputably factual', a large section of Youghal's defensive wall collapsed
within an hour of Desmond's proclamation of rebellion. The walled town had
been a stronghold of the Desmonds since gifted by Robert FitzStephen
to Maurice FitzGerald in 1215. However, it had long been amenable to English
colonists and that was excuse enough for Desmond, along with his relative,
the Seneschal of Imokilly, to attack, burn and plunder the town for
five days solid. Nothing was spared. Even St. Mary's Church and Our Lady's
College, which Desmond's forbears had founded, were 'well nigh demolished'.
When Black Tom Ormonde recaptured the town some weeks later, he declared
the town's 15th century walls to be in 'deplorable' condition and ordered
them fortified. The Lord Mayor, Patrick Coppinger, was hanged from
his own doorway for gross negligence. Ormonde claimed it was the sight of
Youghal and the gruesome fate of its citizens that turned him against Desmond's
'cankered and alienated heart' ever after.

Maurice Fitz David of Ballynatray

One wonders whether the castle at Ballynatray was amongst those subdued
with such violence by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The earliest record we have
is not until 1586 (28 Queen Elizabeth) when 'Maurice Fitz-William
Fitz-David, of Ballynatray, was attainted with several others' for
joining in the Desmond Rebellion. However, before the rebellion was
over, Fitz-David was hanged by the Seneschal of Imokilly, presumably for
defection. (5) His castle and lands were confiscated and, in 1587, were
given to Sir Walter Raleigh. (6)

Lord Grey de Wilton

The sack of Youghal was quickly pursued by rumours of an impending invasion
of Ireland by the Spanish. Raleigh's cousin, Sir Warham St. Leger,
wrote to London urgently seeking reinforcements to support the 850 soldiers
he had stationed in Cork. The Queen appointed a staunch Puritan called Lord
Grey of Wilton to the post of Lord Deputy. He was swiftly dispatched
to restore order in Ireland.

Raleigh's Call to Arms

In the Acts of the Privy Council for 11th July 1580, it is recorded that
'Walter Raleigh, gentleman, by the appointment of the Lord Grey is to
have charge of one hundred of those men presently levied within the City
of London to be transported for her Majesty's service in Ireland'. He
duly sailed for Cork and joined St. Leger. The prospect of a war in Ireland
for the spunky 26 year old was deeply exciting. Here in this land of opportunity
he might not only prove himself in battle but he could also perhaps build
up a fortune.

A Brute Amongst Brutes

Captain Walter Raleigh was a complicated character, at once the essence
of the Elizabethan Renaissance and the vanguard of the more brutal sides
of British imperialism. (7) Indeed, it is staggering to realise just how
brutal the courtly knights of Elizabethan England could be. Raleigh was
no exception. One of the first accounts of his activities in Ireland concerns
the fate of James FitzGerald, brother to the Earl of Desmond, who
was being held prisoner in Cork. He was dragged from his cell, hung until
nearly dead and then hacked into little pieces. His head was set upon the
main gate of the city and there became 'the prey of fowls'. The English
may have cheered at the news that 'the pestilent hydra lost another of
its heads' but Desmond's commitment to rebel was now absolute. Perhaps
more alarmingly, the men who had cut his brother to shreds were commanded
by Walter Raleigh.

The Massacre at Smerwick

The following October, a fleet of seven hundred well-armed Italians, mainly
press-ganged from Papal gaols, arrived at FitzMaurice's fort in Smerwick
Harbour with an Irish priest by name of William Walsh at the helm.
When Lord Grey got word, he ordered the entire reserve of the English army
to march for the Dingle Peninsula. This included Raleigh's contingent
from Cork and various troops under the command of Black Tom Ormond. The
army trudged through exceptionally heavy rain, devastating the land as they
went. Lord Grey's secretary Edmund Spenser, wrote afterwards: 'At
this time, not the lowing of a cow, or the voice of a ploughman, could be
heard from Dunqueen in Kerry to Cashel in Munster'. On 7th November,
with an English fleet blocking the harbour exit, Lord Grey's 3000-strong
army began its bombardment of the Italian invaders. After some time the
defenders raised a white flag and a truce party was sent out to parlay.
They explained they were here on the Pope's behalf, 'to defend the Catholic
faith', rather than as an advance army of any Spanish Armada. Lord Grey,
who regarded the Pope as the antichrist, demanded that the defenders surrender.
There would be no guarantees of life or death. At length, after further
bombardment, the Italians did surrender. They were stripped of all clothing
and arms. The fort was searched. A number of Irish women found within were
strung up on gallows, their pleas of pregnancy ignored. Walsh and another
priest were taken to the village and had their legs and arms smashed on
an anvil by a blacksmith. Two days later, they were hanged, drawn and quartered.
Two hundred soldiers, led by Captains Raleigh and Mackworth, were
then sent into the Fort where they murdered over six hundred of the Italians.
The effect of the massacre on Catholic Europe was comparable to the St.
Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris or the Black Hole of Calcutta
in 1756. Grey's name became synonymous with treachery. In fairness to Raleigh,
when he was older and wiser and writing his History of the World,
he frequently mourns the cruelty of warfare.

Skirmish at Ballinacurra

After Smerwick, Raleigh and his men went on the warpath in Munster. Now
28 years old, Raleigh began to cast his eye on various properties in the
area. He was particularly taken by Barryscourt Castle between Cobh
and Carrigtouhill. When he denounced its Anglo-Irish owner, Lord Barry,
as a traitor, Lord Barry's son David burned the castle, destroyed the surrounding
farmland and went on the run. Raleigh gave chase to the Ballinacurra
ford outside Youghal. Barry lay in wait for him, alongside the Seneschal
of Imokilly, with six horsemen and some kerns. Just as Raleigh and his
small posse approached, the Seneschal's men attacked. In the ensuing melee,
Raleigh distinguished himself when he saved the life of a fellow Devonian,
Henry Moyle, who had been thrown from his horse. Possibly due to the incoming
tide, the Seneschal failed to capitalise on his clear advantage and Raleigh
escaped with the majority of his men.

Raleigh on the Rampage

Back in safety, Raleigh sent an update to London with a hint that he might
be given the ruins of Barryscourt by way of a reward. Black Tom Ormond,
by now Governor of Munster and General of the Queen's forces in Ireland,
had taken a dislike to Raleigh. He turned down the Barryscourt request.
Raleigh hurled silent abuse at Ormond and counselled the Queen that the
Desmonds would 'rather did a thousand deaths, enter into a million mischiefs
and seek succour of all nations rather than they will ever be subdued by
a Butler (Ormond)'. He proposed that his half-brother Sir Humphrey
Gilbert be reappointed Governor of Munster. In the meantime, Raleigh
became obsessed with Barryscourt. He wrote to the Lord Deputy, assuring
him that he would rebuild the castle 'at mine own cost' and 'defend
it for Her Majesty'.
As chance would have it, Ormond was recalled and Raleigh became one of three
officers appointed to temporary command before the arrival of the new Governor,
Sir John Zouch. Raleigh established his headquarters at Lismore
and thereabouts 'in the country and in the woods [he] spent all this
summer in continual action against the rebels'. This included two skirmishes
with the renegade David Barry. On another occasion General Zouch
sent Raleigh to arrest Lord Roche whose son was a supporter of Barry. Raleigh
used his personal charm to gain access to Lord Roche's castle, breakfasted
with his lordship and Lady Roche, and then announced that they were under
arrest and must accompany him back to Cork. The castle where the Roches'
lived would later form the basis of Castle Widenham, home to one
of the sons of Grice Smyth of Ballynatray. But Raleigh was to be
denied Barryscourt and he duly became bored with Ireland. The Desmonds had
burned thirty-six English settlements but Raleigh had no money to pay his
men to counter-attack. Moreover, the Queen had decided to reduce the size
of the army.

The Strancally Murders

A particularly gruesome tale from this age is said to have occurred at
nearby Strancally Castle, built by Raymond Le Gros, and apparently
occupied by Spaniards. The story runs that the wily Spanish, eager to secure
ownership of these lands, lured surrounding landlords to the castle for
a banquet. After dinner, the guests were shown to their bedroom where there
was a trapdoor. Once the trap was sprung, the unsuspecting landowner vanished
through the floor into some subterranean cave where he would swiftly drown
in the tidal Blackwater. At length somebody managed to escape and broke
news of this infamous 'Murder Hole'. The Youghal garrison made haste
for Strancally, routed the Spaniards and destroyed the castle.

The Jewish Mayor of Youghal & a Shakespearean Connection

Francis Annyas served as Mayor of Youghal in 1569, 1576 and 1581. It is sometimes said that he was Jewish. Indeed, Cecil Roth maintained that he was Jewish and that his sister Sarah married Rodrigo Lopez, the character upon whom Shakespeare based Shylock in ‘The Merchant of Venice’. The Shakespeare connection is curious as there is some speculation that the Bard might have once made a trip to Youghal and / or Molana Abbey. The Kassim family website also notes that a William Annyas was Mayor of Youghal in 1553, so one assumes he was an older brother, uncle or father. William Annyas is also mentioned, with Francis, in the Council Book of Youghal as "Agents of the town" in negotiations. There are also mentions of a Genette Annyas and a John Annyas. However, David Kelly (who discussed this case with Gerald Goldberg, former Lord Mayor of Cork) says that if Annyas was a Jew, it was covertly. The history of the Jews website does not mention him or Youghal. (With thanks to Eddie Cantwell and Kieran Groeger),

Famine in Munster

Raleigh left Ireland in December 1582, shortly before the outbreak of a
gruesome famine, followed by a plague, which killed over 30,000 within
six months. Edmund Spenser later wrote: 'Out of every corner of the woods
and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could
not bear them; they looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts
crying out of their graves; they did eat of the dead carrion, happy were
they if they could find them, yea, and one after another seen after, insomuch
as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of the graves, and if
they found a plot of watercresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to
feast'.

Forfeiture of the Desmond Estates

In 1583, the Earl of Desmond was betrayed by the Moriartys and captured
in a wood outside Tralee. His severed head was sent to London and put on
a pole on London Bride. 'And thus', wrote Hooker, 'a noble and
ancient family, descended from out of the loins of princes, is now for treasons
and rebellions utterly extinguished and overthrown'. As Desmond was
a traitor, all his lands in Munster were now forfeited to the Crown. This
vast empire amounted to some 300,000 acres of good land and included
the town of Youghal and the lands and castle of Ballynatray. Youghal was
already sparking interest in London from where Sir Francis Walsingham
had been sponsoring English mining experts to explore possible silver
and copper mines in the area. It was noted that the walled port was
also conveniently located for communications with Wales and south
west England.

Mr Rawley's Account of the Irish Rebellion

Raleigh's first experiences in Ireland had not been overly successful.
He had inflamed his superiors and left with neither land nor fortune. However
he had shown himself capable of immense brutality and, in the context of
the times, to be considered a fearless man of action was vital to an ambitious
soul. After Ireland, Raleigh began to make a serious impact on the Queen
when he personally delivered his side of the story to her. His report, co-written
by William Burghley, was entitled 'The Opinion of Mr. Rawley upon
motions made by him for the means of subduing the Rebellion in Ireland'.
In this summary, he reasoned that most Irish chieftains disliked Desmond
and had only followed him out of fear. Moreover, echoing the very core of
the divide and conquer policy, he suggested that Her Majesty might
save considerable expense if she were able to convince the chieftains to
police their own territories under the protection of the Crown.

A Royal Favourite

Raleigh's good looks, up-curling moustache, dark hair, extravagant costumes
and brash confidence appealed to the Queen. Whether or not the 6 foot tall
adventurer really laid down his cloak for her cannot be proved but he certainly
impressed her quickly. (8) By 1583, the 29 year old was certainly the Royal
favourite. She granted him two lucrative church leases and, more
importantly, a wine monopoly which entitled him to charge every vintner
in the realm £1 a year to retail wines; import permits also had to
be obtained from him. He also became unofficial Royal Secretary and,
as such, established his headquarters in Durham House, a fine palace,
complete with orchard and garden, which lay on the banks of the Thames where
the Adelphi is today. (9) It was from here that Raleigh plotted his various
expeditions, the tables overflowing with books, maps and verulam charts
as he and an ever-changing circle of friends considered new navigational
devices, alchemic interpretations and alternative routes. Crucial to these
discussions was the mathematician and astronomer Thomas Hariot who
would, in due course, become the owner of Molana Abbey.

The First Colony of Virginia

Raleigh's relationship with the Queen precluded him from joining Sir Humphrey
Gilbert's fatal voyage to Newfoundland in June 1583. That September,
Sir Humphrey and his ship, the Squirrel, were 'devoured by the
seas'. Over the following years Raleigh invested much of his time and
money in co-organising the first colonising voyage to Virginia. He
was assisted by a number of veterans from the Desmond Wars including his
half-brothers John and Adrian Gilbert, his cousin Richard
Grenville and Ralph Lane. Also to the fore in the operations
was Sir Philip Sidney, the favoured son of Sir
Henry Sidney, now Lord Deputy of Ireland. The colony at Roanoke
ultimately proved disastrous while the maritime antics of the Gilberts,
Sir Francis Drake and others further heightened tensions with Spain.

The Plantation of Munster

In 1585, Raleigh's interest in Ireland was revitalised when Lord Burghley
and Sir Francis Walsingham united with Christopher Hatton (the Lord
Chancellor and a rival of Raleigh) and Thomas Egerton (10) (the Solicitor
General) to initiate the Munster Plantation scheme. With his experience
in Ireland, Raleigh was almost certainly consulted. At stake were Lord Desmond's
forfeited 300,000 acres and a further 300,000 acres seized from one hundred
and forty persons accused of having supported him during the rebellion.
The scheme divided the richest and most fertile lands into twenty-three
blocks of land (seignories) of approximately 12,000 acres each -
'not accounting mountains, bogs, or barren heath'. These seignories
were to be granted to twenty-three 'Gentlemen Undertakers', men of
wealth and enterprise who would pay a nominal fee of two or three pence
an acre. They 'undertook' to develop and cultivate the properties
with their own money. They agreed to settle the land with six 'well-affected'
English-born freeholders, who would pay no rent for the first five years.
There would also be other farmers, copyholders and cottagers. Rents would
be from £200 downwards and the Catholic Irish were to be excluded.
The post-war famine had driven many survivors out of Munster but the lands
would still have to be cleared of wolves and foxes. Buildings would need
to be capable of surviving physical assault. The scheme specifically sought
the interest of younger sons who had no lands to inherit in England. Raleigh
headed the list of Undertakers from Devon, Somerset and Dorset. Other Undertakers
included Christopher Hatton, Sir Wahram St. Leger, Sir Richard Grenville,
Edmund Spenser, Francis Berkeley, Sir William Courtenay and Hugh
Cuffe, ancestor of the Earls of Desart.

Raleigh and the Blackwater Seignories

At the age of 31, Sir Walter Raleigh secured arguably the finest seignory
in the entire Munster Plantation. His 12,000 acres occupied the final stunning
and fertile stretch of the River Blackwater as it reaches into the walled
town of Youghal, then still one of the most vital ports in Ireland.
Raleigh's arch-rival, Sir Christopher Hatton, also secured one of the Waterford
seignories. The Desmonds managed to retain Ardsallagh and various
lands on the east of the Blackwater, which partly explains the predominance
of Irish speakers in the area today. Hatton must have gritted his teeth
very tightly when he signed his name approving Raleigh's next application.

Raleigh Ups the Stakes

On 27th February 1586, Raleigh hit the jackpot when his application to
undertake a further two and a half seignories in Munster received the Queen's
approval. Many were appalled for the Munster scheme had deliberately restricted
seignories to one per person in order to protect against any monopolies.
It may be that Raleigh was simply taking on the seignories of two other
Undertakers, Sir John Clifton and Sir John Stowell, who had
grown disillusioned with the venture. When Lord Deputy Sir John Perrot
raised an objection, wise old William Burghley advised him that Raleigh
was 'able to do you more harm in one hour than we are able to do you
good in a year'. These were prudent words in an age when the Queen was
prepared to execute her own first cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Raleigh Secures Ballynatray

Five weeks after Mary's execution, Raleigh's certificate of ownership was
granted. It read as follows:

'Certificate 14th March, 1587, of the lands within the Counties of Waterford
and Cork, allotted to Sir Walter Rawley and his associates, i.e., the castle
and lands of Inchaquyne, the South Friars, otherwise the Grey Friars, near
the town of Yoghall; the castle and lands of Ballynetrae, (11) with
Kyllnatora, the castle and lands of Shronecallye, certain lands of David
McShane Roche and others, lying along the river called the Bryde, from the
lands of Shronecally to the lands of Lesfynyne on the south and south-west
of the river Bryde, half a plowland lying on the north side of the river
Bryde, called Killnecarrigrie; the castle and lands of Lesfenyn, and the
decayed town of Tallow, the castle and lands of Mogilla, and the Sheane,
and the castle and lands of Kilmackowe.

Further it is agreed, if the lands above mentioned do not amount to the
full quantity or portion of the seignories of 12,000 acres apiece, and one
seignory 6,000 acres by estimation appointed for the said Sir Walter Rawlyghe,
his associates and tenants, that then they shall have of these lands hereunder
specified so much as shall make up the said full number of acres for the
said seignories, that is to say, the castle and lands of Mockollopp and
Temple Myghell, the lands of Patrick Condon, next adjoining unto the Sheane,
four messuages or tofts in the town of Yoghall, with the patronage or gift
of the wardenship of Our Lady's College of the same, Whight's Island, alias
Ahavounan, and other the lands thereunto next adjoining in Imokillye.

John Thickpenny of Molana Abbey

Prior to Raleigh, Molana Abbey was held by another sea-faring merchant
from Devon, John Thickpenny. He was born at St. Mary Overy, Devon,
in 1525, the son of Henry FitzPen and Alice Pierce. Henry
FitzPen (1495 - 1562) was a Cornish merchant and owned the sailing ship
Seawynd. At some point he left Cornwall and made his way via Scotland
to Ireland. His investments in Ireland floundered during one of the uprisings
and so he removed to Dorset. In about 1545, John married Ann Holton,
daughter of Robert and Constance Holton, by whom he had ten children. They
settled at Weymouth where their son Robert Fippen was born in 1560.
John owned a small fleet of sailing vessels including the Ventura, Roma,
Anne and Ascension. In the early 1560s, John received a number
of warrants from Queen Elizabeth granting him a commission to import
wine into Ireland and the contract to supply food and wine to the garrisons
in Ireland. He was also given a number of 21 year leases in Ireland and
one of these leases covered the island and abbey of Molana. He had an address
at Glassmore, Co. Waterford. (12) John died aged 58 in 1583 and was
succeeded by his son Robert Fippen Thigpen who married Cicilly, daughter
of Thomas Jordon of Melcomb Regis in Dorset. Robert and Cicilly had
four sons and a daughter but Robert died 'on the King's service'
aged 43 in 1693.

Raleigh Secures Molana Abbey

Raleigh's Irish land-holdings now totalled 42,000 acres, the equivalent
of 170 km2. His estate stretched from White's Island near Dromana
in County Cork to the town of Tallow and included Ballynatray, the
Barony of Inchiquin and various ruined castles in County Wexford. He swiftly
capitalised by purchasing various suppressed ecclesiastical properties on
the Blackwater. He took over the lease of Molana Abbey from John Thickpenny's
widow, the payment passing directly to Myles Magrath, Bishop of Lismore.
At the date of its suppression, the vicarages of Tallow, Kilwatermoy, Kilcockan
and Templemichael were all dependent on Molana.

The Acquisition of Lismore Castle

Molana Abbey came under the religious management of the Bishop of Waterford
and Lismore. From 1582 to 1589, this Bishopric was in the hands of Myles
Magrath, perhaps the most infamous Churchmen to emerge in Ireland during
this period. Lismore Castle was briefly entrusted to the remarkable knight Sir William Stanley while his half-brother Thomas Bunbury, my direct ancestor, was recorded as a trustee for the castle in 1585. However, Magrath was obliged to resign the see and, on July
20th 1589, by Royal Letters Patent, an Englishman called Thomas Wetherhead,
was appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Like Magrath, Wetherhead
appears to have been a man of dubious moral fibre. Before he succeeded to
the Bishopric, he was Archdeacon of both Cork and Cloyne, as well as Warden
of the new College of Youghal. When word first emerged that he was
a contender for the Bishopric, his immediate superior, William Lyons,
Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, wrote to the Government, begging that 'the
said Wetherhead may have no further footing in God's church'. He claimed
Wetherhead had been lobbying to be made bishop, offering to sell the wardenship
of Youghal College as a bribe, and to sell the lease of Lismore if successful.
The Lord Deputy supported Lyons claims adding that, as Warden in Youghal,
Wetherhead had sold off all his sources of income, 'and suffered his
honest wife and poor children to wander up and down, begging and ready to
famish'. However, such pleas against Wetherhead's 'insufferable wickedness'
were in vain, and in July 1589 Wetherhead was consecrated bishop by no less
a cad than Myler Magrath, Archbishop of Cashel. The following year, Wetherhead
sold the manor and castle of Lismore to Sir Walter Raleigh. (13)
Perhaps fortunately, the sale was destined to be the only memorable act
of Wetherhead's tenure as Bishop. He died in March 1592, less than three
years after his appointment.

Myrtle Grove

Raleigh's estates now included the towns of Youghal, Cappoquin and
Lismore, all linked by the navigable River Blackwater. Furthermore,
although he was not actually granted their land or buildings, he also secured
the 'possessions' in fee-farm for ever of the dissolved priory of the Observant
Friars, or the Black Friars, near Youghal, for which he and his heirs
were to receive payment in lieu and this was 'surveyed at the yearly
value of £3. 13s. 4d.' (Cal. S. P.) It was his intention to one
day live in Lismore, then perhaps a half days boat journey up-river from
Youghal. In the meantime, he developed a strong affection for Youghal itself
- and for his house, Myrtle Grove. Still very much in existence today, Myrtle's
origins stem back at least to the 1380s when a residence was built here
by a senior figure of the church. Archives certainly confirm a manor house
here by 1462 and Raleigh himself referred to it as the "ancient house
in Youghal" in his correspondence. He seems to have been much enamoured
by the houses' architectural style which reminded him of his birthplace
in Devon. He duly renovated the house in the Tudor manner, complete
with three front gables, tall chimneys, massive fireplaces and heavy oak
panelling, although some of these features may actually pre-date Raleigh.
Above the fireplace in the main room are figures of mermaids blowing trumpets,
almost certainly carved in Raleigh's time.

The Legends of Sir Walter Raleigh

As with most places associated with Raleigh, Myrtle Grove duly became a
hotbed for legends. Raleigh is said to have planted the first potatoes
in Ireland here but, as will be seen later in this tale, the true originator
of the potato in Europe was far more likely to have been Thomas Hariot
of Molana Abbey. Raleigh might also have tried to grow tobacco
here, alongside the myrtles, arbutus bushes and yews (standing proud). A
famous anecdote recalls how he was having an exploratory puff in the garden
when a servant, never having seen tobacco before and fearing his master
was on fire, dowsed him with a bucket of water. Another version claims it
was a tankard of ale. A further anecdote concerns the lands of Affane
where the last battle between the Butlers and FitzGeralds was fought in
1565. One of the FitzGeralds is said to have gifted the lands to Raleigh
after a particularly hearty breakfast. At any rate, it was here that Raleigh
apparently planted the first cherry-tree in Ireland, having brought
the seed from the Canary Islands. (14) But other sources suggest
the cherry tree was planted at Whitgate outside Cappagh. He is also said
to have introduced a sweet-smelling yellow wallflower from the Azores.

The Mayor of Youghal & the Armada

In 1588, Raleigh was elected Mayor of Youghal. (15) However, the
veteran mariner had little patience for civic duties and left much of the
administrative work to his deputy William Magner [of Castle Magner].
(16) As such, it seems unlikely that Raleigh had much interest in the controversial
appointment of Thomas Wetherhead as Bishop of Lismore and Waterford. For
a man of his ambition, Youghal was not enough. He was still orchestrating
costly expeditions to the Americas and the unknown world beyond in pursuit
of ginger, nutmeg, sugar and other goods. Moreover, he was also now entrusted
with preparing the coastlines of Devon and Cornwall for what now
seemed like an inevitable attack by the Spanish fleet. By the time the Armada
set sail for England in March 1588, it was dubbed the worst kept secret
in Europe. To his consternation, Raleigh was confined to looking after the
land defences during the subsequent naval confrontations and so could only
watch as the glory of victory fell upon Drake, Howard, Hawkins and others.
Once the Armada was defeated, Raleigh and his cousin Richard Grenville were
assigned the task of patrolling the stormy Irish Sea for any possible counter-attacks.
This cannot have been much fun for Raleigh as, contrary to all expectations,
it transpires he was prone to seasickness.

Fluctuating Fortunes

By December 1588, it was business as usual for Raleigh. His privateering
raids on Flemish and Spanish ships continued. His commercial venture in
Virginia was also still to the fore. Thomas Hariot's propaganda treatise
'Brief and True Report', published in 1588, was translated into Latin,
French and German and made available on the Continent. Raleigh's name was
becoming ever better known. He seems to have escaped the embarrassing disaster
of the expedition to Cadiz in June 1589, which left a staggering
11,000 Englishmen dead from disease alone. He also narrowly avoided a duel
with the 21-year-old Earl of
Essex, a good-looking hot-head who had taken on the mantle of Sir
Philip Sidney as the ideal Elizabethan. A duel between such prima donnas
would surely have been epic. In August 1589, Raleigh returned to Ireland
under a dark cloud. The reason for his departure from London is unknown.
There were whispers of an untoward movement in Her Majesty's direction but
perhaps Essex's propaganda machine simply had the upper hand. A draft letter
of June 1589 written by Elizabeth to Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam indicates he
had seriously annoyed the Queen. In it, she decreed that Raleigh surrender
his 42,000 acres and revert to a single seignory of 12,000 acres which would
have brought him level with the other Undertakers in Ireland. As it happens
the letter was never sent.

A Successful Plantation

At any rate, Raleigh was thus far doing rather well on his Irish venture.
In May 1589 he produced a report listing 144 men, including craftsmen, who
had settled on his lands, most of whom had brought their families, as well
as cattle and ploughs. By and large, these settlers hailed from south-west
England but there were also a number of old English families
and one or two pure Irish converts. As such, he was well on the way to honouring
his contract to settle 320 families. His tenants included a number of those
who had sailed with him since his earliest New World adventures.
Foremost amongst there was his friend Thomas Hariot, who was now established
at Molana Abbey, the island directly opposite Ballynatray.

Thomas Hariot of Molana Abbey

Sir Walter Raleigh will forever to be associated with the potato. It may
even be true that he grew the first potatoes in Ireland at Myrtle Grove.
However, the first Englishman to discover potatoes was Thomas Hariot,
a remarkable scientist who came across the plant while wintering with Iroquois
Indians by Chesapeake Bay in 1585. In a report published in 1588,
Hariot described potatoes, known locally as 'openhauks', as 'roots
of round form, some of the bigness of walnuts, some far greater'. Raleigh
was Hariot's immediate patron and friend. As such, it was almost certainly
Hariot who brought the first potato tubers back across the Atlantic. One
wonders are there any ancient furrows buried deep around Molana Abbey
for that fine property on the Blackwater Estuary was soon to be Hariot's
reward.
Born in 1560, Thomas Hariot was considered the most brilliant mathematician
of his day. Some consider him the father of modern science. He was also
an astronomer, mineralogist and physicist. He entered St. Mary Hall in
Oxford in 1577 and obtained his degree in 1580. During this time he became
friendly with Raleigh, then at Oriel College, Oxford. He would become
Raleigh's most trusted friend. When Raleigh attempted suicide many years
later, it was Hariot who comforted him. In his will, Raleigh left Hariot
a generous pension and all his 'black suites of apparel'. At Oxford,
the two men were part of an intellectual circle that included Richard
Haykult, Arthur Gorges, George Carew, Lawrence Keymis and the Unton
brothers, Henry (subsequently twice ambassador to France) and Edward
(who was with Raleigh in Ireland in 1586-7).

The Durham House Set

Sharing Raleigh's passionate interest in navigation and exploration, Hariot
soon became a key player in the Durham House set. In 1582 he set
up a 12-foot telescope on the roof of Durham House, apparently the first
telescope in England. The telescope was a vital tool in the Durham House
lectures on maritime exploration. Richard Haykult had initiated the
concept of these lectures following the third successive failure of Martin
Frobisher's expeditions and the triumphant return of Sir Francis Drake
from his circumnavigation of the world in 1580. Haykult was convinced
that the best way to proceed was to initiate serious discussions on the
theory and practicalities of navigation.

The Concept of a Colony

One of Hariot's keenest students was Maurice Browne, an enthusiastic
adventurer who had been in the Azores at a time when its Portuguese
inhabitants were plotting a rebellion against their Spanish masters.
When Browne returned to Durham House in the summer of 1582, he voiced his
opinion to Raleigh and Hariot that England could recoup extraordinary wealth
if it were to start seeking overseas possessions. It was a relatively novel
idea and Raleigh looked again at his map of America. Browne wrote to his
friend John Tyhnne of Longleat, forbear of the Marquess of Bath,
that he was now studying cosmography and navigation under 'an
excellent fellow who dwelleth here in London' (presumably Hariot). Another
of Hariot's students was the Hungarian poet Stephen Parmenius. When
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's fleet of five ships set sail on its ill-fated expedition
to Virginia in June 1584, Parmenius and Browne went with him on the
Delight. They made it to Newfoundland but the Delight was
wrecked on shoals off Sable Island. Eight men drowned, including Parmenius
and Browne. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was himself drowned soon afterwards.

Artica and the Lusty Savages

In 1584, Hariot published his Durham House lectures in a pamphlet entitled
Artica, which has sadly since vanished. It was full of complex
tables explaining the astrolabe, the forbear of the sextant, the cross-staff,
how to read the sun and stars, how to use a compass and chart, how to manipulate
the trade winds and such like. Artica was to become essential reading
for all sailors for the nearly 200 years that would elapse before the discovery
of longitude. Hariot's immense intellect had other advantages. For instance,
in 1584, a Raleigh-sponsored expedition came upon an island off the North
Carolina coast. The captains met the island's chieftain, Wingina.
They duly returned to England with two 'lusty savages' called Manteo
and Wanchese, convinced the island was called 'Wingandacoa'.
When Raleigh subsequently offered this island to his Queen, he is said to
have christened it 'Virginia'. At the back of his mind must have been Hariot's
discovery from conversations with Manteo and Wanchese that 'Wingandacoa'
simply meant 'You have nice clothes'. Raleigh, for his pains, was
knighted shortly afterwards.

Harriot in America

At the age of 25, Hariot's geographical and linguistic skills were such
that he was invited to accompany Sir Richard Grenville on the subsequent
expedition to Virginia. Raleigh had hoped to lead it but the Queen was eager
to keep this dashing sailor close to hand. The purpose of this adventure
was to establish a garrisoned fort in the New World with a view to
creating a full English colony. Ralph Lane, a seasoned veteran of
the Desmond Wars, was designated Grenville's lieutenant and eventual Governor
of the colony. In April 1585, five ships left Plymouth laden with 600 ambitious
men, comprising 300 sailors and soldiers and perhaps 300 potential colonists.
Hariot voyaged on the same ship as the Indians Manteo and Wanchese. Manteo
had by now take a liking to English customs but Wanchese had not. Up until
now, relations between the English and Indians had been remarkably peaceable.
This voyage was to prove ultimately disastrous for the indigenous people
of North America. The immediate catalyst was a silver cup.

A Stolen Cup

After great difficulty, Grenville's fleet landed on the American coast
and a delegation of men went to visit neighbouring Indians. The aforesaid
cup was apparently stolen while they were at the village of Aquascogoc.
When the theft was discovered, Grenville sent Philip Amadas, one
of Raleigh's household, back to Aquascogoc to investigate. Amadas found
the village deserted and decided burn the entire place, including its surrounding
cornfield. Shortly afterwards, with the hurricane season imminent, Grenville
sited the English fort on the north-western tip of Roanoke Island. Aided
by a chance encounter with a Spanish treasure ship, Grenville's expedition
returned to England laden with goods, much of it plundered, including 40,000
ducats of gold, silver and pearls, and a massive cargo of ivory, sugar,
cochineal and ginger.

Harriot's Briefe and True Report

Governor Lane remained at Roanoke with 107 men, including Thomas
Hariot, subsequently of Molana Abbey. The colonisation was duly hailed as
a terrific success in England. Thus it was with considerable shock that
the public greeted these same Virginia colonists, Lane and Hairot included,
as they disembarked from Sir Francis Drake's fleet in Plymouth in
July 1586. Hariot subsequently complied his 'A Briefe and True Report
of the New Found Land of Virginia', completed in February 1587. It has been said
that parts of it were written at Molana Abbey but I think Harriott did not aquire Molana until 1589. The report was illustrated
by a series of evocative drawings by his companion, the painter John
White, who was granted an estate at Ballynoe (Kilmore), near Ballynatray Kilmore.

Potatoes and Tobacco

From the Roanoke Fort, Hariot and White had surveyed much of the surrounding
territory and gathered considerable information on its flora and fauna.
They wintered together by Chesapeake Bay for three months, often
sleeping rough. Hariot described the bay as a 'paradise of the world',
full of 'merchantable commodities' and edible fruits, fowls and animals,
including a 'multitude of bears being an excellent good victual'.
There was also fish and timber to be had. And, for the purposes of a good
tale, there were two particularly interesting goods - openauk and
uppowoc, otherwise known as potatoes and tobacco. Of
potatoes, we have already discoursed. Of tobacco, it was Harriot who first
described how Indians dried and powdered the leaves, then smoked them in
their pipes. In his 'Reporte', Hariot recommended smoking as a medicinal
product, perfect for purging 'superfluous phlegm and other gross humours',
and for opening 'all the pores and passages of the body'. Before
long, Raleigh had made tobacco smoking enormously popular with his trademark
silver pipe; even the Queen tried a puff but the effect made her queasy.
During their three-month stay at Chesapeake, Hariot and White befriended
the natives, Iroquois and Algonquin alike. The tribesmen were
much impressed with Hariot's game-on attitude and his mastery of their language.
Hariot even had some success in teaching them about the Christian faith.
(17)

The Failure of Roanoke

However, elsewhere along the coast, tensions between the indigenous natives
and Lane's settlers were escalating. A strange disease, possibly
influenza, was killing people and English demands for maize were
becoming excessive. Chief Wingina (also known as Pemsipan) ultimately
led the campaign to oust the settlers and before long a volley of arrows
was whizzing through the skies. The terrifying sound of English bullets
scattered the attackers and the settlers made haste for the safety of their
fort. When Lane killed Wingina during a truce soon afterwards, things
became extremely dangerous. It was at that moment that Drake's fleet had
chanced to arrive on the scene and whisked everyone away to safety. When
Richard Grenville's relief squadron arrived at the abandoned fort of Roanoke
two weeks later, he decided to leave fifteen men there with supplies for
two years. Those men were never seen again.

Thoughts from Molana Abbey

It is commonly believed that Hariot subsequently wrote his 'Brief and
True Reporte' on the Virginia expedition while he was in residence at
Molana Abbey. The paper was something of a propaganda piece, designed
to reassure other investors and possible settlers that all was not lost.
Nonetheless, he expressed genuine fury with the ignorant attitude of many
of the settlers. Those who spoke loudest of Indian treachery, he maintained,
had never even left the fort. All they were concerned with was filling their
pockets with gold and when that prospect faded out, they had simply gone
grumbling to their beds. Others, he reasoned, were too well brought up and
quite unable to handle conditions without 'their old accustomed dainty
food, nor any soft beds of down and feather'. (18)

The School of Night

By 1587, Hariot was one of three principal advisors to Henry Percy,
9th Earl of Northumberland. Known as the Wizard Earl, this kindly
and peaceable young intellectual was a friend and admirer of both Raleigh
and Hariot. In later years he gave Hariot an annual subsidy and a house
on his Syon House estate. It was here that Hariot founded the
School of Night. His fellow 'magi' were William Warner,
then investigating blood circulation, and Robert Hughes [Hues], a
mathematician who had accompanied Thomas Cavendish on his voyage
around the world. Also in this circle were the scientist Nathaniel Torporley,
the geographer Emery Molyneaux, the astrologer Thomas Allen
and the Italian occultist, Giordano Bruno. On the periphery were
Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare (The Tempest was inspired
by the School) and Northumberland's literary protégé, Christopher
'Kit' Marlowe, whose classic play 'Dr. Faustus' was inspired
by Bruno. The elderly Dr. Dee was regarded as the godfather of them
all. The late American poet Muriel Rukeyser believed that this School
of the Night actually met at Molanna Abbey on several occasions. The fact that Shakespeare is said to have based the character of Shylock on Rodrigo Lopez, brother-in-law of Francis Annyas, Mayor of Youghal, is also perhaps relevant. At any
rate, the group ultimately met with unhappy ends. Raleigh was beheaded. Northumberland
and Hariot were imprisoned. Bruno was burnt at the stake. Spenser
was effectively exiled and Marlowe murdered with a dagger. (19)

Raleigh, Spenser & Molanna the Nymph

Perhaps it is mere coincidence that Edmund Spenser uses the name 'Molanna'
to describe the river-nymph who betrays the natural mysteries of Diana's
nakedness to the curiosity of a Faun. In September 1589, the poet received
a visit from Sir Walter Raleigh. Spenser's 3000-acre estate was centred
upon Kilcolman Castle near Doneraile in north Cork. The two men had
known each other at least since the sombre days of the Smerwick massacre.
Aubrey described Spenser as 'a little man, wore short hair, little band
and little cuffs'. At the time of Raleigh's visit, he was nearing completion
of 'The Faerie Queen', his long Arthurian allegory for Queen Elizabeth.
He was also in the early stages of his Arcadian poem, 'Colin Clout's
Come Home Again', in which he would first describe Raleigh as the 'Shepherd
of the Ocean'. Both poems were to be heavily influenced by his friendship
with Raleigh. The latter, a devotee of poetry, was deeply impressed and
the two men, perhaps lonely in a foreign land, became close friends.

A World of Ps and Us

By October 1589 Raleigh was back at Lismore with his cousin George Carew,
Master of Ordnance, discussing repairs that would be necessary on the castle.
He left his 'servant' Robert Maple behind as steward of the
castle and grounds, before leaving for England with Spenser in tow. In a
world of interchanging p's and u's, it would be tempting to consider Robert
Maple and Robert Maule of Ballynatray [of whom more anon] to be one
and the same man. At St. Audeon's Church in Dublin, there is a tomb beneath
the east window for Robert Maple who died on 8th January 1618, while Raleigh
himself was making his last journey to the Orinoco.

Spenser in London

Back in London, Raleigh provided the necessary introductions for Her Majesty
duly invited Spenser to read extracts of his epic to her 'at timely houres'.
He was granted a pension and secured the title to his Irish estate. Spenser's
gratitude to Raleigh was immense. However, he soon grew bored with the corrupt
networking of courtly life and returned to his pastoral life at Kilcolman.
By the time 'Colin Clout' was published in 1595, Raleigh had fallen
from grace again. In the meantime Spenser fell in love with Elizabeth
Boyle, celebrated in his 'Amoretti' sonnets, a kinswoman of the
Great Earl of Cork.

Raleigh Sub-Lets his Irish Estates

Before he left Ireland in the autumn of 1589, Raleigh sub-let part of his
estates to people who were, for the main, from his home county of Devon.
Accordingly the following leases were made (20):

Robert Maule, the lands of Ballynetray (possibly Robert
Maple)
Andrew Colthurst - the Castle of Lisfinny, and the decayed town of Tallow
(21)
Thomas Colthurst - the Castle of Shean (22)
Thomas Salisbury - 400 acres (23)
Denis Fisher - Lisnabrin and the adjoining lands (24)
John Peard - two ploughlands (25)
Captain Morris - the Castle, town, and lands of Strancally (26)
John Barbisher - Templevalley and Curriglass (27)
Robert Carew - the weirs and salmon fishing of Lismore, also the Mill and
Mill stream of Lismore, etc.

Robert Maule - the Agent of Ballynatray

In December 1589, Raleigh sailed for England to superintend the publishing
of Spenser's Faerie Queene. Before he left, he arranged a series
of leases for his estates in Munster. Amongst these was the lease of the
lands at Ballynatray to Robert Maule (or Mawle). These had been granted
to Raleigh only two years earlier. Presumably this lease also included the
castle at Ballynatray, such as it was. This may well have been the tower
house, traces of which can be found in the cellar today, just east of the
hall. There are also remnants of a second house in the cellar thought to
date to the early 17th century. Again in the yard, a small single storey
building has window opes that may have been installed in the 16th century.
At any rate, Robert Maule would, along with Andrew Colthurst of Lisfinny
Castle, become Raleigh's principal land agent in Ireland. Together,
they supervised the arrangements for all settlers.

The Maule Family of Scotland

The Norman family of Maule (sometimes Mawle) were much admired in Christian
circles during the 13th and 14th century on account of their crusading zeal.
(28) A junior branch of the family settled in Midlothian, Scotland, and
became closely allied to the Earl of Huntington, later King David I.
In due course, Sir Peter Maule obtained the baronies of Panumre
and Benvie in Forfarshire. When Edward Longshanks came north with
his terrible catapults and battering rams, Sir Thomas Maule managed
to hold Brechin Castle for 20 days. As the battering rams continued to assault
his walls, Sir Thomas calmly wandered out onto the ramparts in full view
of the English, whipped a cloth out of his pocket and began to brush the
dust off his walls. Alas, a stone missile crashed nearby and sent a fatal
splinter Sir Thomas's way. (29)
For a more detailed look at the Maule family, consider the findings of Professor Jim Maule.

Womanisers and Brigands

During the reign of Henry VII, Alexander Maule, the heir apparent
to Panmure, left Scotland for good. The motive for his departure was apparently
down to a 'hatred he conserved against his wife and her friends for her
misbehaviour'. He took large sums of money with him, as well as his
second son, but nothing is ever heard of either man again. It was believed
they had been attacked by brigands and murdered. As such, Alexander's elder
son succeeded as Sir Thomas Maule. As a boy he met every ship that
came up the Tay in the forlorn hope that it would be his father and brother
- or at least word of their fate. He developed into a boisterous, womanising
young man, but became fanatically religious in later life bestowing great
sums on the church. He also became exceedingly fat which ultimately brought
about his death during the battle of Flodden in 1317 when unable
to draw his sword at a vital moment.

Football and Golf in the 16th Century

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his 16-year-old son, Sir Robert Maule.
A contemporary described him as a tall, fresh-faced man of 'comely behaviour
and good language', but prone to fits of intense rage. He was also described
as an impressive drinker, occasionally 'given to lecherie'. He was
a gifted horseman, a noted hawksman and a keen footballer (he had
his own pitch on the moor at Bathill). In 1527, he earned the distinction
of being the first commoner in Scotland to play golf. The game was
played on Barry Links near the modern-day Carnoustie. The death of his much
loved wife caused him to 'embrace the Reformed religion'. When Henry
VIII attempted to marry his son Prince Edward to the Catholic infant Mary,
Queen of Scots, Sir Robert was amongst the strongest protestors. As such
he was severely wounded when an English force subsequently attacked him
at Panmure. In later life, he often went for evening strolls around Panmure
with his youngest son Robert, 'a godlie person given to reading of the
Scripture'.

Sir Thomas Maule

When the golf and football loving Sir Robert Maule died in 1560, his eldest
son, Thomas, succeeded at Panmure. He was a ruddy-cheeked man with
a reddish-yellow beard and a happy face. Like his father, Thomas was a keen
huntsman and hawker. He enjoyed a glass of ale in the morning. A contemporary
genially described him as a man 'not curious of the world' who would
rather 'suffer the loss of goods than enter in ploy [strategic disputes]
with his neighbours'. As a young man, he was contracted to marry an
illegitimate daughter of the soon to be murdered Cardinal David Beaton.
(30) James V personally intervened and forbade the marriage. Following Lord
Darnley's murder by Boswell - the lover of Mary Queen of Scots - Thomas
Maule became a zealous supporter of the Regent Moray and of the cause
of the infant king, James VI.

The Maule's Irish Connection

It is not clear exactly how Robert Maule of Ballynatray fits into
this family but is almost certain he was a close relation. Thomas of Panmure
died aged 79 in 1600. His first wife bore him no family but, in 1546, he
married secondly Margaret Haliburton, 'a religious and godly woman'
who bore him eight sons and three daughters. (31) The fourth son, Robert,
was Commissary of St. Andrews and wrote a history of the Maule family
as well as a rare treatise in Latin on the Culdee monks called 'De Antiquitite
Gentis Scotorum'. There is no mention of this Robert ever having ventured
to Ireland. However, it may be relevant that his younger brother Thomas
is described as 'the father of Lieutenant Colonel Maule who settled in Ireland
and from him was descended Henry Maule, successively Bishop of
Cloyne, Dromore, and Meath under George I'. (32) In 1666, there is record
of a Thomas Maule being appointed Surveyor-General 'of the ports'
in Ireland so perhaps this is one and the same man. (33) Another contender
is Robert Maule, born in 1656, son of David Maule of Boath, and grandson
of William Maule of Auchrinnie.

The Pipe and Stave Business

Part of Maule's duties in Munster were to oversee Raleigh's successful
pipe and hogshead stave business. In 1594 Raleigh also despatched fifty
Cornish miners to work in iron mills outside Youghal, mills that
would be destroyed in the 1598 Rebellion. Raleigh was exporting the pipes
and staves to the vineyards of the Canaries and Madeira to
make wine barrels. The timber was floated down the Blackwater, past Ballynatray
and Molana Abbey, and loaded onto ships at Youghal. By 1590, it was estimated
that 340,000 such staves had been exported. However, Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam,
another of Raleigh's sworn enemies, began probing his claim to the 42,000
acres and his lease of Lismore Castle. Suddenly Fitzwilliam banned the export,
citing the sale of staves as planking for Spanish ships as his motive. There
was even an allegation that Raleigh's stave agent was being used as a communication
channel for Catholic refugees in Ireland and England. Confident that he
was back in the Queen's favour, Raleigh angrily rejected any allegations
of falsehood. Fitzwilliam was also genuinely concerned by the decimation
of the Irish forests along the Blackwater necessitated by the demand for
staves. (34)

Raleigh Settles in Dorset

The next period of history saw the disappearance of the Virginia colonists
(aside from John White who returned safely to Newtown, Co.
Cork, and retired), the death of Sir Richard Grenville in action against
the Spanish at the Azores and the rise of the Earl of Essex as Royal
favourite. For a short period, Essex and Raleigh were united by a mutual
regard for the Puritans whose popularity was on the rise to the horror of
the Anglican Bishops. Raleigh continued to reap the benefits of favouritism,
including the command of sixteen ships dispatched by the Queen to ransack
the Spanish treasure fleet off Panama in 1592, and the gift of a
99-year lease on the magnificent Sherborne Castle in Dorset. Henceforth
it would seem he spent much less time in Youghal and lived at Sherborne.
He was also married in secret to a cousin of the Carews by name of Bess
Throckmorton. That she was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen was one thing.
That she was four and a half months pregnant when he married her was quite
another. The scandal resulted in Raleigh's first imprisonment in the Tower
of London during an era of monstrous plague. Here he wrote 'The 21st
(and Last) Book of the Ocean to Cynthia', a despairing ode to his unrequited
love for the Queen.

Accusations of Atheism

It was soon after this that the first Jesuit-propelled rumours emerged
that Raleigh was hosting a School of Atheism at Durham House. Hariot,
the master of Molana Abbey, was portrayed in a new and more sinister light
as the exponent of 'true knowledge'. The 'Wizard Earl' Northumberland,
Keyms, Hughes, Warner and Bruno were also to be tainted. The School of Night
was atheist insomuch as it eschewed orthodoxy in favour of mathematics,
astrology and alchemy. Hariot's winter with the Indians at Chesapeake must
surely have influenced his spiritual thinking. Hariot was also, like the
soon-to-be-murdered Kit Marlowe, a homosexual. At a dinner party in Sir
George Trenchard's house in Dorset, Raleigh engaged a snooty clergyman
named Ironside in a heated debate over the existence of God. Before
long, the word was out that Raleigh had fallen under Hariot's spell and
turned atheist. A steady stream of ill-wishers came forward. A parson told
how Raleigh's brother Carew had commandeered his horse the day before a
sermon; Carew Raleigh said the horse could preach for him. The stories were
largely ridiculous and ultimately ignored but the stigma of atheism remained
with Raleigh ever after.

Miler Magrath - The Survivor

When Bishop Wetherhead died in March 1592, the see of Lismoer and Waterford
returned to its previous incumbent, Miler Magrath. This extraordinary man
was already Archbishop of Cashel and Bishop of Emly. It was said
that he had first secured the Bishopric in October 1582 as a reward for
supplying valuable inside information on the whereabouts of the Desmond
outlaws during the rebellion. Magrath's colourful biography is one of astonishing
corruption, persistent back-stabbing and relentless gall. At various times
in his life, he managed to simultaneously hold sees from both the Catholic
and Anglican Churches. By the time James I ascended the throne in
1603, he held four bishoprics and seventy spiritual holdings. With the Protestant
reformation apparently in full steam, this was indeed a marvellous feat.
It was too marvellous for either Sir John Davies, the attorney general,
or Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin. Their protests came to a head
in 1607 when the 84-year-old Magrath was finally obliged to give up the
Waterford and Lismore see. Magrath had purchased the Lismore estate from
Raleigh for a nominal fee. But he miraculously managed to hold on to as
Archbishop of Cashel until his death, at the sprightly age of 100, in 1622.

Hariot and Raleigh in El Dorado

Raleigh's desire was to settle down to enjoy fatherhood, horse breeding
and falconry. However, in Ireland, the Earl of Tyrone was stirring
up trouble again and he needed to stay alert. A large number of his leases
in Munster had been sold and resold by London merchants, much as one plays
the stock exchange. The money raised most likely went towards Raleigh's
fast approaching Guyana adventure. This expedition took place in
1595 and concerned the then unexplored territory of Venezuela and
Guyana, lands reputedly awash with the lost gold of El Dorado. Hariot served
as Raleigh's accountant in organising this expedition. The following year,
Raleigh took part in the raid on Cadiz. His continued prominence
at court placed him in a bizarre triumvirate with Essex and Robert Cecil.

Anarchy in Munster

On 14th August 1597, Sir Henry Bagenal, Marshall of the English
army in Ireland, marched from Armagh with 4000 men and 300 cavalry to relieve
a garrison besieged by Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone. On the way,
they were ambushed at Yellow Ford with disastrous consequences. Perhaps
as many as 2000 of the English were killed, including Bagenal and thirty
of his officers. Rebellion quickly spread across Ireland to Munster which
rose up under Sugane FitzGerald, nephew of the slain Earl of Desmond.
Total and bloody anarchy encompassed Raleigh's seignories. Tongues were
cut out, noses hacked off, babies smashed against walls, wives raped and
beheaded. Edmund Spenser only just escaped but his new-born baby
is said to have died in the inferno that engulfed his beloved Kicolman.
Thousands of cattle, sheep and horses were seized. Tallow was totally
destroyed. The castles of the Blackwater were besieged and laid waste. It
was total ruin for most of the Undertakers. Financially, Raleigh survived
intact because of the nature of his leases; he had already made his money
back. Nonetheless, he too began to hunt in haste for someone to buy his
lands.

The Downfall of the Earl of Essex

In the meantime Essex was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and
sent to quell the rebellion with the greatest army yet sent in the country.
It consisted of 1300 cavalry, 16,000 foot soldiers and 2000 veterans of
the Dutch wars. They left Islington amid a downpour of rain and hail
on 27 March 1599. The ensuing campaign was one of mixed results. Essex mopped
up rebel fighting in Munster and re-established some control in the province
of Leinster. The Queen however criticized the southern campaign as pointless,
and ordered him north to battle with Tyrone. Despite the magnitude of his
force, Essex was unable to secure victory in Ulster. In September 1599 at
the end of the campaigning season, he met alone with Tyrone to parlay a
ceasefire, without the crown's authority. See: Essex
and the Campaign of 1599.
While in Ireland, Essex was constantly looking over his shoulder at events
in the English court. He blamed Sir Robert Cecil, leader of the aristocratic
faction of moderates, for his sudden loss of favour with the Queen. At length,
Essex decided his best course of action would be to visit the Queen personally.
On 24th September 1599, he left his Irish command, without permission, and,
accompanied by his private secretary, Henry
Cuffe, journeyed to London in a vain attempt to regain the Queen's
favour. With the rebellion in Ireland still continuing, this proved a foolhardy
decision for it was a treasonable offence for the Lord Lieutenant to abandon
his post without license from the crown. Essex was arrested on arrival in
London and placed under house arrest for 18 months. He subsequently went
into open rebellion against the Queen's government but was captured
and executed in February 1601.

The Battle of Kinsale

In September 1601, Raleigh received reports that a Spanish fleet of twenty-five
warships and 7000 soldiers was en route for Ireland under the command of
Don Juan de Aguila. The fleet had planned to land at Cork but, due
to unfavourable winds, eventually docked at Kinsale, close to the
lands of their ally, Florence MacCarthy. The Spaniards duly occupied
the existing James's Fort (Dún Rí Shéamuis
in Irish) on the Castlepark peninsula and began to strengthen its fortifications.
Unknown to them, Lord Mountjoy (the Viceroy) and Sir George Carew
were already in the ascendance across Munster. Their army arrived at Kinsale
two weeks later, blocked the harbour exit and began to occupy strategic
positions. The besieged Spaniards were now obliged to wait for Tyrone's
army to come south from Ulster to relieve them. By the time Tyrone's 6000
strong force reached the outskirts of Kinsale on 9th December, Mountjoy's
army was suffering from disease, desertion, a shortage of food and plummeting
morale. The final battle took place on Christmas Eve and was both brief
and devastating. Tyrone was routed and lost upwards of 1,200 men dead. Captain
Richard Smyth, subsequently of Ballynatray, commanded a cavalry regiment
that ousted the Spanish from James's Fort. The Spanish surrendered, on honourable
terms, and were shipped back to Spain with all their colours, artillery,
money and possessions. The battle changed the entire course of Irish history
and spelled the end for the chieftains of Celtic Ireland and all that they
had represented.

FOOTNOTES

1. Black Tom Butler's family lived at Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary.
There are reasons to believe Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII and
wife of Queen Elizabeth, was actually born in Carrick-on-Suir.
2. The portrait was by Sir William Segar who was active from about
1580 and died in 1633. His other sitters include the Queen and Robert Devereux,
2nd Earl of Essex. It has sometimes been attributed to the Spanish baroque
artist, Francisco de Zurbaran (1598 - 1664) whose works included
'A Cup of Water and a Rose on a Silver Plate', 'Oranges and a Rose'
and the controversial 'St. Agatha', which depicted the mutilated
martyr with her severed breasts on a tray.
3. There are over seventy variations of his surname (eg Rawley, Ralegh etc)
but Raleigh is the most popular and that's what we will use here.
4. He might even have been present in Paris on 24th August 1572 for the
wedding of Princess Margot de Valois to Henry of Navarre, a marriage supposed
to cement a Catholic - Protestant alliance. The wedding back-fired and tragically
turned into the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, a horrific week that
resulted in the murder of several thousand Protestants across France. Consider
'La Reine Margot', a film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' epic novel,
for a typically saucy French version of these events.
5. Cal. State Papers, Ireland, IV, p. 381.
6. Fiants, Eliz., no. 5046.
7. His 'History of the World' remains an incredible and neglected
masterpiece.
8. An early anecdote about the flirtation between the couple concerned Raleigh
scratching words on a window pane with a diamond: 'Fain I would climb,
yet I fear to fall'. Seeing what he had written, Elizabeth wrote beneath:
'If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all'. Before long he was writing
her long and syrupy sonnets, known as the 'Poems to Cynthia'. Most
authorities doubt there was ever any actual sensual love between the two
but the platonic love was strong.
9. The unfortunate Lady Jane Grey had married there some thirty years earlier.
10. He was a kinsman of Thomas
Bunbury of Stanney.
11. 'In the 28th Queen Elizabeth [1586], Maurice Fitz-William Fitz-David,
of Ballynatray, was attainted with several others'.
12. The Index to Prerogative Wills of Ireland refers to a will from 1581
of 'John Thickpenny, Gent, of Glassmore, Co. Waterford'.
13. On 1st December 1585 a feoffment (ie: a trust) was set up by Sir
William Stanley of Hooton with regard to the future of the castle
etc. of Lismore 'to the use of his wife and children'. The manor and castle
of Lismore, located on the banks of the River Blackwater, were leased by
Patrick, Bishop of Waterford & Lismore, to Sir William Drury
for 61 years on 8th October 1576. However, Sir William Stanley is recorded
as paying rent for the castle to Anne Thickpenny, widow of John Thickpenny,
from 1584-1586. The three executors of this trust were Stanley's two brother-in-laws
John Egerton [the Younger of Olton, Cheshire], John Poole
[of Poole] and his step-brother, Thomas Bunbury of Stanney.
14. In 1628 Affane was the birthplace of Valentine Greatrakes.
15. The Mayor of Youghal's sword is now at Lismore with Devonshires.
16. The information that the Magners held several castles in north Cork
came from Mrs. Molly Hickey of the Duhallow Historical Society.
17. White made a total of five voyages to Virginia. His daughter Eleonara,
wife of Ananias Dare, accompanied him on one of these and gave birth
to a daughter on 18th August 1877. Christened Virginia, she was the
first English child born in America. White was also given land on
Raleigh's Irish estates at Newtown in County Cork and settled there after
1590. He was probably a better cartographer and artist than he was a leader.

In 2005, Marian O’Halloran, Chairperson of Youghal Celebrates History, invited a group of actors who specialize in Elizabethan re- enactments to participate in the Youghal festival that year which had a strong focus on Sir Walter Raleigh. They hailed from a town called Manteo, on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and their visit was such a success and their Mayor subsequently requested a twinning with Youghal. Marian was among those who visited Manteo in 2006 and signed the twinning charter.

18. When Richard Hakluyt published his conclusions on the Virginian
expedition, he singled Hariot out for praise: 'By your (Raleigh's) experience
in navigation, you clearly saw that our highest glory as an insular kingdom
would be built up to greatest splendour on the firm foundation of the mathematical
sciences, and so for a long time you have nourished in your household, with
a most liberal salary, a young man well trained in those studies, Thomas
Hariot; so that under his guidance you might in spare hours learn those
noble sciences and your collaborating sea captains, who are many, might
very profitably unite theory with practice, not without almost incredible
results'.
19. The School Of Night, by Frederick Turner
20. 'Lismore during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth', William H. Grattan-Flood.
(The Lismore Crozier)
21. Andrew was a forefather to the Colthursts, Baronets of Ardrum and MPs
for Doneraile, Youghal and Castle Martyr. A descendent, Colonel John
Colthurst, was murdered by rebels in 1607, as was his son Christopher
outside Macroom in 1641.
22. There are still the remains of the ancient Desmond castle of Lisfinny - a square tower with 84 foot high 'walls of immense thickness'. The property
passed onto the Croker family, also of Devon, and then to the Pynes. During
the Land Wars of the 1880s, Lisfinny was in the possession of Jasper
Pyne, MP, son of the Rector of Oxted in Surrey and brother to the squire
of Ballyvolane
House. Pyne threw himself into the cause of radical Irish politics
and was an MP in Parnell's party. However, following the infamous Scrahan
evictions of October 1887, he delivered a speech so inflammatory that he
was charged with incitement. 'Ignoring a summons to attend court, he
withdrew in early November to Lisfinny Castle where, with supplies to last
six months, he withstood a determined siege by the police. In fact it ended
after 'only' two months, with Jasper Pyne's dramatic escape from the castle,
and with his total and permanent disappearance, in 1888'.
23. The ruins of the square keep of Shean or Sheanmore Castle are
two to three miles east of Mocollop. The name means 'fairy mound'. In 1420
it was the property of James FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond and
Seneschal of Imokilly, Inchiquin and Youghal.
24. He must be some connection with Thomas Salisbury (b. 1564), son
of Sir John Salisbury of North Wales. In 1586 Thomas was arrested for alleged
involvement in the Babington Plot to murder Queen Elizabeth and replace
her with Mary, Queen of Scots. His projected role was to raise the
Catholic gentry of north Wales and, quite possibly, of Munster. Their execution
on September 20th 1586 involved startling cruelty. Babington, Salisbury
and the others were dragged through the streets on sleds, hanged until nearly
dead and then had their privates cut off. They were then disembowelled,
drawn and quartered.
25. Among other suspected Catholics to become Undertakers in Munster at
this time was Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton, Cheshire, a cousin of
the Bunbury family. His warrior son, Sir
William Stanley, a step-brother to Thomas Bunbury of Stanney,
leased Lismore Castle from 1584 - 1586. Sir William had been involved
in Raleigh and Gilbert's failed settlement of Virginia. He subsequently
stunned society by defecting to the Spanish in January 1587.
26. Lisnabrin, formerly part of the Desmond estate, lies near Curraglass
and Tallow. 'A branch of the Coppingers had, from remote times,
lived at Lisnabrin, and when Sir Walter Raleigh acquired the estate, in
1586, he secured the Coppingers in the lands of Lisnabrin under a lease
for 4,000 years at the rent of 4d. per acre. Raleigh stood sponsor to the
son of Mr. Coppinger, the son being called Walter'. There was also a
connection to the Croker family of Devon.
27. Mary Broderick Smyth, wife of Grice Smyth of Ballynatray, was
a granddaughter of Richard Peard of Coole. The Peard family came
from Barnum Church in Devon. Perhaps John was a forbear of John Whitehead
Peard (1811-1880), noted for his association with the heroic Italian
patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi and for his prominent role in the battle
of Milasso (1860). Legend has it that during their first meeting on the
field of battle, a movement in the Austrian lines attracted Peard's attention.
'Pardon me, but there's a devil of an Austrian over there who's catching
my eye,' he declared. He then insouciantly raised his rifle and fired
a shot. Every member of Garibaldi's entourage trained his field glasses
on the Austrian, who took a few stumbling paces before falling face down
in the dirt. Peard nodded with satisfaction, held out his hand to Garibaldi
and said 'Good day, general. I hope I see you well'.
28. The ancient castle of Strancally, near Knockanore, which formerly
belonged to the Earls of Desmond, was granted to Sir Walter and then assigned
to the Earl of Cork. In 1837, Lewis noted that the castle, then property
of J. Keily Esq, 'appears to have been partially demolished with
gunpowder a long time since, and was recently struck by lightning, which
caused a large portion of it to fall into the Blackwater'. The castle
contained an infamous murdering hole, which dispatched those who incurred
the wrath of a Desmond to the river below. There is no access to the Desmond
castle. The present day Strancally Castle was designed by James and George
Pain and built for John Kelly around 1830. It is now is a private estate
owned by the Billensteiner family. For more, see Heffernan, K.; Billensteiner,
F. (1999) 'The History of Strancally Castle and The Valley of the Blackwater
between Lismore and Youghal'.
29. Curriglass House was later seat of the wonderfully named Gumbletos.
30. 'The Great Historic Families of Scotland'. Much of the information
on the Maules comes from a 2 volume set discovered in an antiquarian bookshop
and written by James Taylor, M.A., D.D., F.S.A and published in 1887 as
set 88 of a 250 print run.
31. Wallace Papers, p.21
32. Cardinal Beaton was murdered by Protestant reformers in 1546.
In 1542 Thomas served at the battle of Hadden-rig where the Scots were victorious
but he was captured and held prisoner until freed by personal order of Henry
VIII. Thomas narrowly escaped death in the savage massacre that took place
in the battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547. Pinkie Cleugh is
considered the first 'modern' battle to be fought in the British Isles.
33. Their eldest son Patrick was another hawking and hunting man and renovated
the house at Panmure but died in 1605. Patrick's only son, also Patrick
(1585 - 1661), went on to become the 1st Earl of Panmure.
34. Bishop Henry Maule (1679 - 1758). Henry's rise through the Church
of Ireland hierarchy began with his appointment as Dean of Cloyne on 29th
June 1720. He became Bishop of Cloyne from 1726 until 1731 when he was raised
to Bishop of Dromore. (In 1733, the see of Cloyne came to George Berekely for whom the Californian University is named). He was the author of a 'Sermon
on Popery' in 1741 and became Bishop of Meath 1744. He held this last
see until his death in 1758. He also became a Privy Councillor in 1751.
He married Lady Anne Barry, the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Barrymore,
by whom he had two sons, Thomas and James and a daughter Anne.
35. It would seem he succeeded to the post on the Duke of Ormond's recommendation
following the death of Stephen Smith, the incumbent 'Comptroller
of Customs in the Port of Dublin' in November 1664. Carte Calendar Volume
44, July-December 1666, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, ed.
Edward Edwards (2005), MS. Carte 43, fol(s). 553-554.
36. Eileen McCracken in 'The Irish Woods since Tudor Times - Their
Distribution & Exploitation' (David & Charles, 1971, p. 45)
says that Cork and Raleigh were both responsible for felling woods of Munster
- and that these forests 'in the first part of the 17th century were
to cask nearly all the wine that France and (to a lesser extent) Spain would
produce, which would float as the hulls of many of the East India Company's
ships, which until the mid-18th century would fill the insatiable furnaces
of the ironworks that lined the river valleys and which would provide the
bark for the tanneries of Killarney'. When Boyle acquired Raleigh's
lands, it is said that he used their timber both in his ironworks and for
stave-making. In his diaries, Boyle recorded transactions involving about
4 million staves (approx 500,000 cubic feet) between 1616 and 1628. Working
in conjunction with Henry Pyne, Raleigh was one of the first men
to exploit Irish woodlands until the export of staves was made illegal
in 1596. The ban was lifted in 1611 but re-enacted again in 1615 although
a Henry Milton of Youghal obtained a special and exclusive license.
Much of Boyle's disputes with Lord Deputy Wentworth involved woodland.